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Hogfather Discworld Calendar 2007
01/11/2006 . Source: Phil Jones 
pub: Gollancz. page calendar. Price: £12.99 (UK only). ISBN: 0-575-07927-4. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.orionbooks.co.uk
It's that time of year, folks. If you or one of your friends or family is a Terry Pratchett fan then the 'Discworld Calendar' is a good port of call. This year, though, it's a little bit different. With the advent of a TV version of 'The Hogfather', to be shown on Sky One in December we have live action photographs. I'm not sure if these are all from 'Hogfather' or the precursor series of shorts 'Twelve Days Of Hogwatch'. This will feature Death visiting a number of experts on 'Roundworld' and includes a visit to Terry Pratchett himself. Pratchett does make an appearance in the calendar, too, as the Toymaker. If you're a fan on the wonderful illustrations by Paul Kidby that has adorned previous year's calendars, then I'm afraid you'll have to look elsewhere.
So as we have photographs rather than illustrations this year, how do they compare to other interpretations of the Discworld universe. To me, well, err, bit of a disappointment. Death is rather funky, Elongated skull and small point of light blue eyes. The shot of Death's library and Susan conjurers up the image you would expect although Susan isn't quite how I would have envisioned her. I think that's the problem with many of the other shots. They just don't quite do it for you. I love a lot of the other visualisations of Discworld, Josh Kirby and Paul Kidby's illustrations and Clairecraft's wonderful figures. The photo's in the calendar just don't seem to match up to the same quality and imagination.
The details seem wrong. The prosthetic ears on Albert (played by David Jason) are awful as are most of the backdrops (sets) with a few exceptions and clothing leave a lot to be desired. This is just my personal take compared to what I've seen or imagined when reading the books. To me, though, they just don't cut it. If you're an ardent fan and collect everything Discworld then this is another item to add to your collection, but I think others may be a bit disappointed.
I was really looking forward to the TV version of 'Hogwatch' as its one of my favourite Discworld books, but this calendar has put a bit of a dampener on it. Lets hope I'm proved wrong. There's always Sam Raimi's film of 'Wee Free Men' to look forward to in 2008.
Phil Jones
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